Grade School/High School Revisited

One of the things that I hated about grade school and high school is the whole "one person ruining it for everyone else" scenario that teachers seemed fond of enacting. One person coould not be quiet so no one gets the treat. Sometimes the offender would just go ahead and ruin it for everyone because they have nothing to lose.

Flashforward to 2006: I read a blog at Alter Peek that informs me that prior to tonight's State of the Union address the Republicans and the Democrats have been using Wikipedia to shore up their positions by shaping entries to suit their positions. Apparently the Republicans in particular have been adding slanderous information against the Democrats and taking out anything that criticizes the current administration's policies.

Gadzooks.

I would be the first to say that Wikipedia is not the end-all in terms of a resources for researchers but it is a good start and it is a great idea. Why does anyone from either side feel the need to tamper with it?

If your political platform is sound, you don't need to stoop to such behaviour to win your position. That kind of behaviour is what takes place in grade school and high school.

So now it seems that both parties have made it rotten for everyone.

Sites that I go to from time to time-2

I happened across this cool customer-driven blog about customer service at everyone's favorite fast food chain-McDonalds:

McChronicles
http://mcchronicles.blogspot.com/

It is not a blog that just engages in bashing what is amounts to a state religion in the United States and the rest of the world. It also highlights McDonalds restaurants that get it right. This blog also includes photos to illustrate its commentary.


Not to be outdone, joining the bandwagon of business blogs that are usually about reinforcing the "brand" of the company is McDonalds. Their blog can be found here.

Happy B-Day Wolfgang!

I wonder what he would make of his popularity today...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart

Remembering those lost explorers

It was 20 years ago that the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up as it ascended into the sky. I remember that I was in the library with a classmate (who was called Bobby Brady until about 5th grade, when he started going by the more mature Robert Brady, largely because he wanted not to be taunted about it) to do a report on some topic that I can't even remember. A librarian told us that Challenger was gone. We could not absorb it fully. After all, we were born after the lunar landing and the Apollo 13 almost disaster. We witnessed as tots the flawless flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia. We even saw Challenger's first flight. It never occurred to us that of NASA's missions would fail.

And it never occurred to us that anyone would die.

Die they did, and we learned real quick that this space business was serious and that it was not like on Star Trek or Star Wars even.

The event was made all the more poignant because a teacher died. She was not military and she surely was not obscure by the time she boarded Challenger. Her name was Christa McAuliffe and she was living out a teacher's dream.

Let us all take a moment to remember them on Jan. 28th:
Commander Dick Scobee
Pilot Mike Smith
Astronaut Ellison Onizuka
Astronaut Judy Resnik
Astronaut Ron McNair
Astronaut Greg Jarvis
Teacher Christa McAuliffe

NASA will be holding a Day of Rememberance for the Challenger crew as well as for the Apollo I crew and the Columbia Crew.

Here are some articles marking the 20th anniversary:

• Remembering Challenger 20 Years Later
• NASA's account of the Challenger accident is here.
• An update on Barbara Morgan, Christa McAuliffe's understudy is found here.
  
  
  I think that one of the casualties of the Apollo I, Virgil "Gus" Grissom said it best in regards to space flight and disaster:
  
  

  "If we die, we want people to accept it. We are in a risky business and we hope
  that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of
  space is worth the risk of life."
  

  -Virgil I. Grissom, after the Gemini 3 mission, March 1965
  
  

Sites that I find here and there

While reading about John Adams (again) on Wikipedia, I found an interesting website in the External Links section. It is a website where a thoughtful person decided to compile the medical histories of the American Presidents. The website is in fact called, "Medical History of American Presidents."

John Adams' profile is here. His son, John Quincy Adams, is here.

Sites that I go to from time to time

I have been a reading the Boston Phoenix for a long time. Every since it transitioned from a paid newspaper to a free one with a better, more portable version.

I was cruising through the website and found the following job listing for an "Executive Receptionist." I quite love it because it just "keeps it real."

Just another day in the USA

It's not "Domestic Spying," it's "Terrorist Surveillance." That is what our nation has come to. There is a terrorist in every pot and a killer around every corner. For a country that spent most of the 1970s and 1980s going after the former Soviet Union for such behaviour all I can say is "hypocritical!"

Nana and the Devil

'Nana and the Devil' is my title for one of the first books I learned to read on my own. The correct title is "The Devil Did It."

This post is not about Nana or the Devil. I typed 'N" in the title field and it populated with 'Nana and the Devil.' I decided to keep it.

I decided in this post to wax poetic about the new template that I chose for this blogs and my slowly but surely deciphering of the code.

I do consider it a major achievement that I brought some organization to my "Links" section.

I do think that I have gone a bit "add-on" happy.

I do think that I would like to do this for a living.

I think that I really like pink and purple and all things green.

More lessons learned from sports

Well, Saturday, January 14, 2006 was an interesting sports day to say the least.

The 2006 State Farm US National Figure Skating Championships took place with a mixed level of enthusiasm. Echoing the much referred to 1994 season, the US was sending a team that would have a couple of medalists at best but surely no sure bets for gold. None of the men from 2002 repeated. Michael Weiss and Timothy Goebel washed out and badly. So badly that Matt Savoie, who usually places off of the podium, skated the second best free skate and is going to the Olympics. Joining him will be Evan Lysacek, the surprise of the 2005 US Nationals and the World Championships and the off-center but interesting to watch Johnny Weir, who has created Bodie Miller-like buzz about due to some analogies he made about skating and drugs.

Sasha Cohen finally won her first gold medal at the US Nationals at a competition that did not feature Michelle Kwan. To give my least favorite skater some credit, the choreography of her program was wonderful and if she can execute it flawless, she does have a chance of getting a medal. She is at least proficient enough to pull it off. I reserve the right to be snarky and say that she only did as well as she did because Michelle Kwan was not there and perhaps being sick helped her to focus. Kimmie Meissner, who I call "Money" because of her reliable jumping (at least until last night), will be going to Olympics also. It will be a great experience for her though I do feel that if she medals it will be because the other women wash out. Artistically, she still has room to grow.

It looks like pending a January 27th judgment, Michelle Kwan is on the Olympic team. Again, echoing the 1994 season, Michelle petitioned for her spot since due to a groin injury, she could not compete in the US Nationals, from which final team is chosen. Also in a weird irony, Emily Hughes, sister of Sarah-the one who beat Michelle out for the gold in 2002, will be the alternate if Michelle gets the final okay to go.

ABC's broadcast featured not just the usual suspects-Dick Button, Peggy Fleming, Peter Carruthers and Terry "I can't believe he played basketball on the 1983 NCAA winning NC State team" Gannon-but 1984 and 1988 Olympic gold medalist Katarina Wiit and 4 time World Champion Kurt Browning. One thing I found unusual about this was that both skaters are not US citizens. They were not doing commentary on their respective countries (Germany and Canada). I also have never seen both take up commentator duties but it was interesting to see Kurt Browning behave quite seriously. I suspect that ABC feels that Dick and even Peggy (who is in her late 50s and still looks like a millions bucks) are a wee bit long in the tooth and if they are going to infuse their broadcast with new blood, it should be now.

Katarina Witt provided a line that pretty much provided the moral for both the skating and the football competitions that took place on January 14th. When asked by Terry Gannon about Michelle Kwan and if she should be added to the Olympic Team by a medical bye, Katarina Witt said that "she should only go if she intends to win the gold medal." She further said that there would be no other reason to justify going. Michelle must be beyond determined to bring home a gold medal. If this is not what Michelle is after, if she has any doubt, if she is only doing it because this is expected of her, then she should let someone else go. She has two Olympic medals and other honors. The only reason to go through this process would be to bring back a gold medal.

Now, those who know me, know that I am not a fan of Katarina Witt. This goes back to the 1988 Olympics. She captured the gold medal away from my favorite, Debi Thomas. I saw Katarina as having no talent and benefitting more from her classical features (read: being white) than from any technical skill. I have since amended that perspective after gaining some years (I was in grade school at the time of the Calgary Olympics) and some information.

I learned that Debi Thomas' third place finish at Calgary had more to do with the insanely high ranking that the judges gave to Canada's Liz Manley, who had a mediocre program but had landed all of her jumps relatively cleanly. She beat Debi, whose falls definitely cost her gold but would have been enough for silver had not the vote gone the way it did. I also learned that Katarina Witt pretty much had to win gold or else face a life that had no real future. Katarina was a product of extremely repressive East Germany. Winning the gold meant that she could be allowed to leave the country and tour and obtain a better life for herself. No one foresaw the Berlin wall coming down in 1989. Brian Boitano also said in his reflection of the competition that Katarina wanted the gold medal more than Debi did. I at first took issue with that but then I remembered all the times where Debi talked about being a doctor and how skating, while something that she loved to do was not her ultimate destination. At the "kiss and cry" in 1988 after her less than best long program, she said that it was back to school. If Debi had won, what kind of destiny would have been Katarina Witt's? Would she have been as well known? Would she have been able to continue?

Knowing what I know now, makes me more appreciative of the hitsuzen or fate of the situation, but I still find Katarina Witt's skating to be boring and I still think that Debi Thomas was a better skater than she was. I do also appreciate what she tried to communicate to Michelle Kwan. It was in the same vein as NBA star Karl Malone's talk with Michelle.

The New England Patriots lost in the postseason to the Denver Broncos. While most analysts had them winning, they also cautioned that the Patriots had to take charge of the game from start to the finish. They did sorta, which allowed for both teams to enter the 2nd quarter scoreless but the Broncos discovered their "groove" and the Patriots allowed themselves to be defeated by crazy errors.

The Patriots did fight as best as they could. Fans needed them to fight since losing was not something that the Patriots did. At least, the Patriots of the 21st century. They were expected to win. There was always a miracle that took place.

Well, it did not happen.

Did the Patriots not want the win as badly as the Broncos? Probably not. These were not guys that went into and left the game feeling a sense of entitlement or acting as if they could cruise their way back to the Superbowl.

When I saw the Patriots leave the field at the end, I was reminded of what Michelle Kwan's father told her when she had a disastrous short program at the 1999 Worlds in Helsinki, which endangered her chance to win gold. He said that you can't win all the time and indicated that she needed to do her best. Michelle pulled herself together and skated a strong program. She did not win, since her challenger, who usually finished 3rd or off the podium, maintained and won the 1999 World Championship. However, Michelle Kwan would go on to win 4 more championships and tie Maribel Vinson Owen's record of 9 US National Championships.

The Patriots will survive this loss. They will "go big" next year.

Hopefully Michelle will "go big" too. If she is not going to "go big," then she should stay home.

I got nothin' agin' 2006

I imagine that soon I will get to writing insightful and informative posts.

I did learn that Michelle Kwan has pulled out of the US Nationals with a groin injury. It does not bode well since a groin injury spelled DOOM for two time Olympic Silver medalist Elvis Stojko. He was never the same after it and did not even make the top 5 in the 2002 Olympics.
Michelle will petition to get on the team which, should not be too bad since unlike 1994, (which was the last time a skater who was unable to compete petitioned to be placed on the US team) there are three spots instead of two. The womens' field in the US is good but many won't really be ready until 2010. Outside of Sasha Cohen and perhaps Jenny Kirk and Emily Hughes, Michelle should be able to be added to the team without denying a deserving skater an opportunity to compete, which ironically happened to her in 1994 when Nancy Kerrigan was allowed to got to Lillehammer and Michelle, who won silver at the US Nationals that year and who could have competed at the Olympics that year despite her youth, had to settle for being an alternate.

Well, we'll see how it all shakes down.

I Just heard...

I just heard that Lou Rawls died.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060107/NEWS07/601070346/1009